Cycling chief McQuaid loses more support

Pat McQuaid’s bid for a third term as president of the International Cycling Union suffered a further setback today after Swiss Cycling confirmed they have withdrawn their nomination of him.

The Irishman, 63, who has been a Swiss resident since being appointed UCI president in 2005, failed to win the backing of Cycling Ireland and sought a nomination from Swiss Cycling instead.

The nomination was scheduled to come before an arbitration board in Zurich tomorrow, with McQuaid confident of success, but now that process has been cancelled.

A statement from Swiss Cycling said: “The director of the Swiss Cycling committee returned to the decision of May 13 concerning the appointment of Pat McQuaid and yesterday decided to withdraw his nomination for his re-election as president of the UCI.

“Consequently, the arbitration requested by the three members of Swiss Cycling is cancelled.”

McQuaid says the action against him in Switzerland was instigated by Jaimie Fuller, owner of sportswear firm Skins who funded the Change Cycling Now pressure group and, according to the UCI president, has commercial motives for his actions.

Speaking prior to Swiss Cycling’s announcement today, McQuaid said: “He [Fuller] canvassed Switzerland, looking for three members that he would pay for to bring this process [against] me.”

Fuller was among the first to react to the decision. He said: “This should finally signal an end to Mr McQuaid’s quest for re-election.”